Nick Bollettieri, force of nature and tennis academy pioneer, dies at 91

The Bollettieri method was like nothing tennis had ever seen. A revealing example came in 1977, when a 12-year-old boy from Buffalo named Jimmy Arias arrived to see Nick.

“I saw little Jimmy take this big swing and hit the daylights out of the ball,” said Bollettieri. “The minute I saw what a great shot it was, I told my team, ‘This is how we’re going to teach the forehand from now on.’”

Bollettieri would be the first to admit his approach was scarcely scientific, that while he could spot what made a stroke work or how to address a technical shortcoming, such details were secondary to his bigger mission.

I don’t want to be Perry Mason. I want to be Fred Perry.
Nick Bollettieri

Most of all, Bollettieri was a motivator, proud of his ability to find the distinct point of entry in anyone who came under his watch. One of Bollettieri’s role models had been the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi. Having led his Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships in seven years, Lombardi was a nationally revered figure when he and Bollettieri met in the late 1960s. Witnessing Bollettieri teach tennis to a group of youngsters, Lombardi issued a comment that would eventually trigger tremendous success: “You should be working with children.” To a certain degree, Lombardi’s advice planted the seed for Bollettieri’s eventual academy.

Bollettieri was also drawn to Lombardi’s taskmaster-like manner. Having himself been a paratrooper, Bollettieri relished playing the drill sergeant role. Legend are the tales of Bollettieri issuing harsh comments to his charges about everything from sloppy strokes to training habits to fitness. But, just as Lombardi balanced stick with carrot, so could Bollettieri swaddle a player with words of kindness.

“Tennis was so rigid for so long,” said Steve Contardi, a Bollettieri teaching colleague for more than 50 years. “Nick was the one who came along and brought the whole concept of ‘different strokes for different folks’ to life. At one level, it had to do with how various people might hit the ball and play differently. But at another, it was much deeper, connected to his incredible passion and desire to help people excel. Consider Nick the people’s psychologist.”

Always willing to share his opinions, Bollettieri remained visible in the sport well into his 80s.
Always willing to share his opinions, Bollettieri remained visible in the sport well into his 80s.

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Nick Bollettieri was born on July 31, 1931 in Pelham, N.Y., a middle-class town just north of New York City. Young Nick loved sports and was eventually captain of his high school football team. When an uncle introduced Bollettieri to tennis, he at first blanched.

“Tennis then was a sport for sissies,” said Bollettieri. But he was quickly captivated, in time earning a letter at Spring Hill College, located in Mobile, Ala. Still, as a tennis player, Bollettieri’s career was short.

Upon graduating from Spring Hill in 1953, Bollettieri set his sights on becoming a fighter pilot and eventually served as a paratrooper.

“Soon enough, the day came for my first jump,” he recalled. “I was first in line and before going to the exit door, a young private asked me if I was nervous. ‘Private,’ I said, I’m so scared, I have a diaper on.’ But off I went, into the open sky.”

That big leap personified Bollettieri’s life. His military career over, Bollettieri enrolled in law school at the University of Miami. Concurrently, he gave tennis lessons for $3 an hour at Victory Park, a two-court venue located in North Miami Beach. So inexperienced was Bollettieri that he did not know how to teach the forehand grip. To remedy this, he and his wife, Phyllis, went to a nearby park to study the teaching techniques of a local instructor. The young Bollettieri also gained much advice about the game from the great British player, Fred Perry, who at the time was living in Florida.

Midway through that first semester of law school, Bollettieri dropped out. “I don’t want to be Perry Mason,” he said. “I want to be Fred Perry.”